"Protecting Children Vs. Protecting Privacy": Online at Bloomberg View, law professor Noah Feldman has an essay that begins, "Can Wisconsin make a sex offender who's completed his sentence wear a GPS monitor on his ankle for the rest of his life? Reversing a lower court judgment last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit said the answer is yes. The opinion, by the influential Judge Richard Posner, presents itself as an exercise in cost-benefit analysis and legal common sense. But the decision is wrong nonetheless, because the right to privacy can't be balanced away by statistics."

"White House expected to nominate high-profile Silicon Valley-based Judge Lucy Koh to federal appeals court": Howard Mintz of The San Jose Mercury News has an article that begins, "San Jose-based U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh, who in recent years has become the most influential judge in Silicon Valley, is expected to soon be nominated to the nation's largest federal appeals court, according to lawyers and judges familiar with the White House vetting process."Posted at 09:27 PM by Howard Bashman

Programming note: This afternoon, I am traveling to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where tomorrow morning I am orally arguing two unrelated appeals before the same three-judge panel of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania (the 11th and 13th cases on this list).

"Tuaua Plaintiffs To Seek Supreme Court Review; Theodore B. Olson Joins Case Seeking Recognition of Birthright Citizenship in U.S. Territories":This post appeared in mid-December 2015 at the "Equally American Blog" of the We the People Project.

"SC Supreme Court race: Lawmakers fishing for anti-Abbeville sentiment? Associate justice candidates were questioned on Supreme Court's Abbeville school funding case; Judge John Few's answers might have signaled he believes Supreme Court overreached in Abbeville case; Legislature to vote Wednesday on next associate justice." The State of Columbia, South Carolina has this report.Posted at 08:42 PM by Howard Bashman

Sunday, January 31, 2016

"Setback in S.F. for abortion opponent facing charges in Texas": Bob Egelko of The San Francisco Chronicle has an article that begins, "An antiabortion activist, charged with committing crimes against Planned Parenthood in Texas, suffered another legal setback in San Francisco on Friday when a federal judge refused to let him disclose clandestinely made recordings of abortion providers in a filing with the U.S. Supreme Court."Posted at 08:37 PM by Howard Bashman

Sunday, January 31, 2016

"Diversify Pennsylvania's court system: The email scandal shows how courts in this state remain in the hands of the good-old-boy network." Anisha Singh and Jodi Hirsh have this op-ed in today's edition of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.Posted at 10:52 AM by Howard Bashman

Sunday, January 31, 2016

"Supreme Court sets date for birth-control mandate showdown; Justices will hear from nuns, other nonprofits on March 23": Tom Howell Jr. of The Washington Times has this report.Posted at 09:52 AM by Howard Bashman

Sunday, January 31, 2016

"Women made up majority of sitting judges on Nebraska Supreme Court for brief, historic moment": Paul Hammel of The Omaha World-Herald has an article that begins, "Quietly, with no fanfare, the Nebraska Supreme Court reached a historic, if temporary, milestone earlier this month when a majority of the sitting judges were female."Posted at 09:50 AM by Howard Bashman

Sunday, January 31, 2016

"None to the Right of Samuel Alito: A decade into his tenure on the Court, Samuel Alito has emerged as the most solidly conservative justice on the bench." Tom Donnelly and Brianne Gorod have this essay online at The Atlantic.Posted at 09:44 AM by Howard Bashman

"Loosening money's grip on elections: How to change the billionaire-dominated campaign finance landscape, 40 years after Buckley vs. Valeo." Law professor Rick Hasen -- author of the "Election Law Blog" -- has this essay online at The New York Daily News.

"State seeks to preserve lifetime GPS monitoring of sex offender": Earlier this month, Bruce Vielmetti of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had an article that begins, "Wisconsin tried Friday to persuade a federal appeals court to reverse a judge's decision that lifetime GPS monitoring of some sex offenders violates the constitution."

The appeal was orally argued on January 8, 2016. You can access the oral argument audio via this link (17.9 MB mp3 audio file). And the Wisconsin Department of Justice has posted online the opposing parties' principal briefs here and here.Posted at 01:07 PM by Howard Bashman

"Court reinstates Kountze cheerleader religious-message lawsuit": Chuck Lindell of The Austin American-Statesman has an article that begins, "In a case that has become a rallying cry for leading state Republicans and conservative Christians, the Texas Supreme Court on Friday reinstated a lawsuit by Kountze cheerleaders seeking to protect their use of religious messages during football games."

"Final Senate Action on U.S. Circuit and District Court Nominations During a President's Eighth Year in Office": The Congressional Research Service on Wednesday posted online this report written by Barry J. McMillion.Posted at 01:11 PM by Howard Bashman

Friday, January 29, 2016

"Puhl nominated to replace Kermit Bye on appeals court": Patrick Springer of The Forum of Fargo, North Dakota has an article that begins, "President Obama on Thursday nominated Jennifer Klemetsrud Puhl, a career federal prosecutor based here, to fill a vacancy on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals."

"SCOTUS associate justice speaks to UF law students": Melissa Gomez of The Independent Florida Alligator, the student newspaper of the University of Florida in Gainesville, has an article that begins, "A bomb-sniffing dog searched Stephany Ashton's class Wednesday morning, and she was asked to hand over her cell phone. These safety measures were taken because Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas gave a guest lecture."

"James Ridgeway's Solitary Reporting": Jennifer Gonnerman has this post online at The New Yorker. Therein, she writes, "there may be no reporter in the United States who has collected more stories of solitary-confinement prisoners than the veteran investigative reporter James Ridgeway."Posted at 09:37 AM by Howard Bashman